Punk dignitary Ian Svenonius taunts political and cultural mores with a wink

Ian Svenonius has been one of the major figures in D.C. punk for the past 25 years. He began in the late ’80s with Nation of Ulysses, who along with other Dischord label contemporaries like Fugazi, was rethinking what a “hardcore” band was supposed to sound, look, and act like.

Ulysses was simultaneously backward-looking and left-leaning, combining a retro appreciation for rock’s roots in soul and pop music with a confrontational appropriation of slogans and styles from radical politics (its debut album was titled 13-Point Program to Destroy America).

That band was short-lived, but it defined the trajectory Svenonius would follow in his subsequent projects. Perhaps his best-known group is The Make-Up. The Make-Up played and sang Marxist critiques of capitalism in general, and rock ‘n’ roll in particular. The politics were sincere, but the strategy was self-aware and fun. The groovy, mod sound was more deliberately retro and accessible, and live performances were reportedly heavy on call-and-response chants (the band made several appearances at Charlottesville’s Tokyo Rose). Its sharp style, matching uniforms, and communitarian rhetoric underlined the degree to which allegiance to a subversive political group and allegiance to a commercial rock group can often appear indistinguishable.

The Make-Up called its form “gospel yeh-yeh,” arguing that gospel was a relatively uncommercialized and pure relative of rock. The appellation of the term “yeh-yeh,” is reminiscent of the yé-yé genre of ’60s French girl pop, perhaps one of the most blatantly commercial and artificial (and fun) musical genres in history. In channeling it, The Make-Up was pointing the finger back at itself, acknowledging with a wink, its own place in the grand scheme of things. The message was an exciting and vital one—question all preconceived notions, tear down, and reconfigure the structures around you—and have a fun, sweaty dance party while doing so.

The Make-Up broke up in 2000, citing completion of its “five-year plan,” but Svenonius remains busy. He started the group Scene Creamers with Royal Trux’s Neil Hagerty (soon re-named Weird War after Hagerty’s departure), and authored two books, the 2006 essay collection The Psychic Soviet, and his most recent, last year’s Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group. In Strategies, Svenonius claims to hold séances to contact rock legends such as Jim Morrison and Brian Jones from beyond the grave to interview them about their formulas for success. Puzzlingly, he also conducted séances with still living musicians like Paul McCartney. It’s presented as a “how-to” manual, partly tongue-in-cheek while offering analysis of how the rock group mirrors the appearance of the street gang, and how pop history relates to the Cold War, examining multi-faceted relationships with capitalism and culture.

Svenonius’ current band is called Chain and the Gang, and in the past four years the band has released three full-length albums through Pacific Northwest-based kindred spirits K Records. With a rotating membership, the Gang has an even simpler sound than Svenonius’ previous groups. Claiming to reject liberty, Chain and the Gang record in mono, and has given the world albums entitled Music’s Not for Everyone and Down With Liberty… Up with Chains! and songs like “Surprise Party,” “(Lookin’ for a) Cave Girl,” and “(I’ve Got) Privilege.” Its most recent offering is 2012’s In Cold Blood.

Chain and the Gang will play at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar on August 15, joined by fellow D.C. group Shark Week and local mod-rockers The Ha-Rang!!.The show begins at 9pm.

Earth oddity

On Saturday, August 17 several local groups will perform the music of David Bowie in a tribute concert at the Jefferson Theater.

Though Astronomers called it quits a year ago, the opportunity to cover “The Man Who Sold the World” proved too strong a temptation to resist, so the show will serve as an Astronomers reunion. The band has paid tribute to Queen and the Smashing Pumpkins in previous years at the Southern’s annual Mock Stars Ball Halloween concerts, and its flashy glam aesthetic and familiarity with covers makes for a good fit.

The Fire Tapes has recently completed its second album (the excellent Phantoms, due on WarHen Records in September) and is recovering from the pressures of recording and preparing for the album release show by rehearsing a set of Bowie tunes. “We’ve been practicing a lot,” said Betsy Wright, the Fire Tapes’ lead singer. “It’s challenging music, and Bowie had the range of an opera singer, but I think we’ll have some fun with it. We are mostly doing the ‘Thin White Duke’ era, with some other songs sprinkled in.”

The Fire Tapes sound is that of classic ’80s-era college radio—mixing shoegaze, country, and Velvets-style jams—and the band typically ends shows with covers like Television’s “Marquee Moon,” The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” or “That’s What You Always Say” by the Dream Syndicate.

The third band is something of a supergroup of semi-locals led by the prolific Thomas Dean. In addition to fronting the long-running punk powerhouse Order of the Dying Orchid, playing as a pinch-hitter in dozens of other bands, and designing t-shirts and album covers for seemingly everyone in town, Dean is also a seasoned covers artist, having played full sets of The Kinks and Guided By Voices songs with The Invisible Hand. Dean’s frequent collaborator, Nikki West of Nethers and the Carlsonics, will play the part of Bowie, backed by a band containing local journeyman Travis Elliot, Kyle Rodland of Riot Act on drums, and WJTU DJ Nick Rubin on keys. They’re billed as Tom Dean and the Jean Genies.

Doors are at 7pm and holiday-themed local DJ trio Three Witches will spin records between bands.

Lauren Hoffman had never heard of Paste Magazine. But in 2006, soon after the release of her most acclaimed record Choreography, the LP’s lead single was included on one of the national magazine’s music samplers alongside the likes of The Hold Steady, Bright Eyes and The Shins. It wasn’t the

Derisive punk pranksters ONWE make their second local appearance this month at the end of a tour that has booked up and down the East Coast as well as four shows at Austin, Texas’ South by Southwest Festival. Since the 2014 release of the single “Unpaid Internship,” the trio has risen to the

Emily Hearn Hourglass/Old Prince Records Be warned: Emily Hearn will be your new favorite singer-songwriter. On her sophomore effort Hearn grows artistically by leaps and bounds with a rich, understated vocal prowess, a sonic palette beyond the country and folk stylings of earlier albums, and

Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo’s nonfiction masterpiece, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, hits the big screen in a live streamed National Theatre production directed by Rufus Norris. Peek behind the curtain of Mumbai’s luxury travel industry to discover the ambitions of a bevy of slum

If you are a parent of a millennial there’s a good chance you can sing along to the tunes of “kindie rock” songstress Laurie Berkner. Her hits “We Are The Dinosaurs,” “Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz)” and “Victor Vito” (made popular on Nick Jr. TV channel) offered a welcome alternative to the catchy

Actor, director and UVA Drama professor Kate Burke is on a mission to change American theater. “I’m very aware of how the American tradition has been influenced by Method acting,” Burke said in a recent interview. “There are some good things about it, but in distorted form it focuses on

Virginia-born and Nashville-based, Nora Jane Struthers makes her country roots come alive on the energetic new album, Wake. The former high school teacher’s first self-produced record crosses Emmylou Harris with Pearl Jam in a collection of percussive panoramas and Southern-fried slide guitar.

John McCutcheon is equal parts musician and storyteller, skilled with a variety of instruments but also engaging when telling tales between tunes. He is a Wisconsin native who called Charlottesville home for years before moving to Smoke Rise, Georgia. He is also an avid community organizer and

Caroline Spence has taken Nashville by storm over the past two years, winning songwriting competitions at the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, Kerrville Folk Festival and taking American Songwriter Magazine’s 2013 grand prize. The momentum encouraged Spence to crowdsource funding for the full-length

“I feel like an old soul in general. If I’m shopping, I’d rather buy something old and upcycle it or do something that appreciates the value of what it used to be,” said Charlottesville- based alternative photographer Cary Oliva. “Things were just more beautiful back in the day.” The intrigue

If you ever come across a herd of nerds walking around Charlottesville with expensive-looking cameras, do not fear. They’re just photo walkers. And while their numbers are growing, they’re mostly harmless. Charlottesville has at least two groups that regularly hold photo walks, and the

There is a sneaky sort of rebelliousness in Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella—in the way it pushes back against the tide of revisionism and misdirected irony that has overtaken family entertainment in recent years. Sincere instead of sarcastic, elegant instead of flashy, and wishing to enchant

Up-and-coming Southern rockers J. Roddy Walston & The Business are on tour in support of Essential Tremors, an album that borrows its name from a nervous system disorder that’s plagued the band’s frontman throughout his career. Walston said that it makes sense to be more open about his

With a career spanning more than four decades, Lily Tomlin has earned her legendary status in American comedy. After becoming a household name on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” in the early ’70s, Tomlin went on to starring roles in TV, film and theater. In 2003, the comedienne extraordinaire

Probably all of us have felt it at one point or another. For some, it comes in the form of an obsession with story—the drive to know what happens next, to revel in character and incident and situation, to follow a plot as it arcs and swoops and blossoms (or crashes and implodes). For some […]

Named after the legendary string orchestra that played for the French king at Versailles, Les Violons du Roy transports listeners to the sumptuous courts of 18th century Europe. Led by conductor Mathieu Lussier and pianist Marc-André Hamelin, the 15-member group performs elegant pieces by

With songs that are busy, crowded and accessible, a rock ‘n’ roll diner is the perfect venue for Brooklyn-based indie folk artist Bay Uno’s Charlottesville debut. And while Uno is on the later side of middle age, he’s hip, like a grass-fed burger topped with cheddar and artisan

Kentucky native Ben Sollee is quickly becoming a household name thanks to his innovative songwriting and inventive approach to the cello. Using his bow and his right hand, he slaps and plucks chords creating a full groove that sounds more like a trio than a soloist. His recent credits include

Founded in 1967, Fleetwood Mac has since changed its line-up nine times. Despite inner turmoil, the group practically trademarked the folk rock sound in the 1970s, and made history on the charts with hits like “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop” and “Dreams.” The core members got back on the road

From start to finish, everything about the Chappie experience is a pleasant surprise. Yes, Neill Blomkamp’s story of a police robot in the near future who becomes sentient can be viewed as a synthesis of Short Circuit and RoboCop, but the film gets the more familiar plot elements out of the way